Inspired by the Wisconsin Idea, the ongoing collaboration between the Department of Art History and the Mount Horeb Area Historical Society (MHAHS) was awarded the Community-University Partnership Award by Chancellor Rebecca Blank.
The exhibition and e-book Creators, Collectors and Communities is the result of an ongoing partnership between the MHAHS, University of Wisconsin-Madison Art History Professor Dr. Ann Smart Martin and four consecutive semesters of engaged and creative Material Culture students who researched, interpreted and presented material on the Society’s collection to the broader public.
This partnership culminated in June 2017 with the opening of the Driftless Historium, a newly constructed history center in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. The fruits of this multi-faced collaboration between the MHAHS’s professional staff and community volunteers, and university staff and students, have included Creators, Collectors, & Communities: Making Ethnic Identity Through Objects, a 60-object exhibit examining the evolution of ethnic identity in southwestern Wisconsin which has been seen in person by more than 10,000 visitors over the past year, and a free, media-rich catalogue and eBook accompaniment featuring photographs, oral histories, and original student research which has been viewed online by thousands.
Ann Smart Martin is the Stanley and Polly Stone (Chipstone) Professor of Art History